Top Ten Tips for Food Truck Customers

Unless you've been living under house arrest it's been hard to miss the latest craze in the food world. You'd better buckle up because food trucks are taking the country by storm and serving up some creative and delicious food.

Pictured above,  Skillet Street Food's "french dip" panini style roasted beef, gruyere, horseradish crema, caramelized onions, roasted beef jus.

It used to be that the best you could expect from a food truck was a bag of funyuns and a warm diet coke.  Today, food trucks are serving up everything from korean short rib tacos to wagyu beef burgers with bacon jam.

Here are my top ten tips for getting the most out of your food truck experience.

1) Plan your attack

Most food trucks will send out their locations and schedule on a weekly basis via email or Twitter.  Sign up for their emails and have their tweets sent directly to your phone so you'll know of any last minute schedule changes. Go here for a list of street food vendors using Twitter by region. 

2) Arrive Early

If a food truck tweets they will be at a location between 11-2, then get to that location as close to opening time as you can.  Most of these trucks are small operations and when they are out of food, they're out of food and you're out of luck and hungry.

3) Pay Cash

Some food trucks take credit cards but many do not.  Come armed with cash. (remember cash? It's that green stuff that comes out of the ATM, you can exchange it for goods and services.)

4) Tip

Most places have a tip jar,  don't be afraid to use it.  These folks work hard for not a lot of money to bring you fabulous food.  Show them some love and part with a couple bucks.

4) Be Flexible

Be the river and not the rock when pursuing your favorite food truck. Flow around obstacles such as location and schedule changes, and be prepared to try something new.  Menus are always evolving. 

5) Smile you're on camera

I've yet to visit a food truck where there wasn't at least one person taking pictures.  So if you're in the witness protection program, lying to your boss about being home sick or cheating on your diet, prepare to be photographed in the act.

6) Strike up a conversation

I'm not asking you to engage in a spirited debate over geopolitical issues (though I've seen it happen) but a friendly hello and a smile will go a long way with your fellow food truckers.  These are also the people to ask about what's new on wheels and where they've eaten lately.  Food truck followers are an obsessive (and well fed) bunch. 

7) BYOB

Trucks are often serving a limited number of items and drinks are not always on the menu.  So pick up a drink before you leave the office.

8) Garbage

Some trucks have places for garbage but many don't.  Again, the theory is that you will take the food away and eat it in your car or office.  Keep a plastic grocery bag in the car for disposing of  trash.

9) Respect the neighbors/parking

One of the biggest obstacles that food trucks have to overcome is opposition from neighbors and businesses.  Be a great customer and help them out by taking your garbage with you (only trolls litter.) Park only in designated areas and don't block driveways.

10) Have A Food Truck Kit

Since food trucks are designed for you to take your food and go, you're going to need a couple of things in your car or office to maximize your dining enjoyment.  My current car kit has salt, napkins, plastic utensils, wet wipes and a couple of plastic grocery bags.  You might want to consider adding some of those fresh breath strips to your kit, if you like your office mates.  Also, keeping some chewable pepto-bismol on hand is never a bad idea, because you probably shouldn't have eaten that last spicy pork slider. 

So hit the road and let me know about your favorite place on wheels!

 The famous truck from Maximus/Minimus.  Quite possibly the cutest and I'm pretty sure the only pig shaped truck operating. 

Buns on Wheels, classic grass fed beef burgers and fries.

Kaosamai, Thai food anyone?

If you're in the Seattle area today be sure to check out Mobile Chowdown. Loads of your favorite food trucks in one place at Qwest Field.  Gates open at 5:00pm and tickets are a mere $5.

Comments

[mamichelle]

Wow, I think I am living under a rock! Either that or they haven't hit New England yet. We still have the old food trucks with Funyuns and old sandwiches though.

[SEA_StreetEats]

Depends on what part of New England, @mamichelle.

Boston just had it's first Food Truck festival in August: http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/08/bostons-first-annual-food-truck-festival.html

[Susan]

My cousins in San Francisco have been raving about their food trucks. I've always wanted to track these down myself but living in such a rural area myself, I can only live precariously through pictures.